Why is there anything? (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, April 04, 2012, 17:45 (4617 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: The fact that we ourselves are sentient does not endow the rest of the universe with sentience, whether one argues rationally or empirically. And sentience or consciousness is the fundamental difference between the theist and the atheist view of the universe.-DAVID: This argument is a fallacy. Paul Davies makes a great point of noting that our sentience is highly significant. Our sentience is a product of this universe and therefore the universe has become sentient in US and suggests a universal sentience may underlie it.-Where is the fallacy? Maybe the universe/eternal energy is sentient (I'm an agnostic, remember), but the fact that we are conscious of ourselves provides no evidence that the rest of the universe is also conscious of itself. Since the universe existed before us, and Paul Davies thinks it HAS BECOME sentient "in US" (whatever that means), that hardly makes for conscious energy that preceded and CREATED us! Furthermore, "SUGGESTS a universal sentience MAY underlie it" carries no more weight than Dawkins - who probably also realizes that we are sentient products of the universe! - insisting that there is no such thing as a universal sentience. Both arguments are pure speculation (the tentative language confirms this), and the difference is what constitutes the fundamental distinction between the theist and the atheist position. I repeat: where is the fallacy?